- Date
- May 29, 2020, 14:30 local (18:30 UTC)
- Place
- Madisonville, TN
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N70BZThorp Thorp T 18
- Defining event
- Landing: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20200529010469A
- Case key
- 101484
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain directional control during the landing roll on a soft turf runway, which resulted in a nose-over.
Findings · 3
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot of the tailwheel-equipped airplane reported that he was landing on a soft turf runway following an uneventful local flight. During the landing roll, he applied "a little too much braking," and the airplane nosed over. Postaccident examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed that the vertical stabilizer, rudder, and fuselage were buckled. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N70BZ
- Reported as
- Thorp Thorp T 18 (Undesignat)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 1325
- Built
- 2005
- Airframe hours
- 550
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-H2AD, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · May 25, 2019
- Departed
- Madisonville, TN
- Destination
- Pvt, TN
- Equipment
- Stall warning system, Handheld GPS, Electronic flight bag or handheld device, ADS-B
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 33
- Injuries
- Minor
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 1,372 total · 77 in this make and model · 393 as pilot in command · 23 in the last 90 days · 9 in the last 30 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 84 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- MMI, 12 nm away
Docket · 5
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 9, 2020, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 6.3 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.